Many adult women and teenage girls are not getting enough iron from their food, according to the most recent dietary guidelines.
Iron deficiency is one of the biggest nutritional deficiencies across the world, and women need more iron than men because they lose it through menstruation, pregnancy, and lactation.
Iron is an essential mineral required to deliver oxygen to all cells of the body. While men need about 10 micrograms a day, menstruating women need about 14 micrograms a day.
Anaemia
It is important to distinguish between anaemia – which is a medically defined low level of iron – and not getting the recommended daily allowance of iron. The symptoms of anaemia include tiredness, irritability, and headaches but it must be diagnosed by a general practitioner or nurse practitioner following a blood test. Only then are iron supplements prescribed.
Women should not take iron supplements unless a doctor has identified low iron levels following a blood test.
This is important because low blood iron could also be linked to other conditions such as coeliac disease. Then, following the course of supplements, it is advised to have another blood test to see
if the iron levels have returned to normal.
In the past, pregnant women were prescribed iron supplements as a matter of course.
However, now only those found to have low iron levels are recommended to take iron supplements during pregnancy. Better awareness of haemochromatosis, the genetic disorder which causes excess iron to be stored in the body’s organ, has also contributed to a more cautious approach to taking iron supplements.
Too much iron
Aside from haemochromatosis, symptoms of having too much iron in your body are constipation, vomiting, and stomach pains. In fact, taking iron supplements can in itself also cause discomfort and pharmacists recommend they are taken on an empty stomach.
It is best to take iron one hour before a meal or two hours after a meal. They are best absorbed when taken without food and with orange juice (because vitamin C helps the absorption of iron) but never with milk. Medicines such as tetracycline antibiotics and some thyroid and stomach medications also reduce the absorption of iron, so they should not be taken at the same time as iron supplements.
Diet
The easier way to avoid the symptoms of low iron levels is to ensure you have enough of it in your diet. Red meat, fish, and poultry contain the most easily absorbed form of dietary iron known as haem iron.
Plant sources of iron are leafy green vegetables (for example, spinach and kale), whole grains, dried pulses, fruit, and seeds.
However, this plant form of dietary iron (known as non-haem) is more difficult to absorb. Non-haem iron is also sensitive to compounds found in tea, coffee, cocoa, and red wine, and the iron will not be absorbed as well if iron-rich foods are eaten at the same time as these drinks.
One of the biggest concerns is low levels of iron among teenage girls who become vegetarian. This is a particularly vulnerable group because growing and studying places extra demands on their bodies already and vegetarians have to be very careful to get high enough non-haem sources of iron as possible.
Fortified breakfast cereals, fortified milk and juices, dried fruit, and seeds are other readily available sources of iron and other important minerals.
Iron-rich meal ideas
- • Scrambled egg with mushrooms, grilled tomato, and fruit juice
- • Fortified breakfast cereal, berries, and fruit juice
- • Sardines with wholegrain toast and green salad
- • Omelette with chopped peppers and mushrooms
